A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly.

American politicians have been promising to return power to the people for as long as Americans have been voting. But anyone who pays attention knows that the average citizen has very little voice in Washington. Now a new startup that uses an Internet-sourced, social-media-inspired, American Idol-esque approach could be the change we can really believe in.
The new company, Americans Elect, is about to submit 1.6 million signatures required to get on the 2012 California presidential ballot, the beginning salvo of a 50-state effort. The company plans to host an open nominating process to build a viable third party ticket in every state. Thomas Friedman at the New York Times explains their strategy, and how they could remake the future of voting.

SJ Klein of One Laptop per Child and the WikiMedia Foundation has produced a review of the legal actions being taken against Aaron Swartz. Aaron is someone that I greatly admire, and I am very concerned with the direction of his court case. I wish him the best of luck. Here is the opening of SJ’s post:

He is also currently charged with computer fraud by the US Attorney’s office, in what appears to be the latest example of “a sweeping expansion of federal criminal jurisdiction” based on the broad applicability of wire fraud and computer fraud statutes. An overview: …

I am, however, twittering. Catch me @isforinsects if you want to keep up with my minute-to-minute escapades. Part of the reason I’m dissatisfied with the lawblog is that I can’t embed js/flash widgets to show twitter updates :(.

I have been completely swamped with work, and a little unhappy with the limitations of the MUwordpress here at Harvard. I’m considering moving my blag back to isforinsects.com or to a l.o address, or something else entirely.

Anyway, just wanted to let you all know that I wont be updating for the next couple weeks. FYI

Over the past six months I have drastically cut down on my personal posessions. I moved to Boston in June with a suitcase and a backpack. Since then I have had two smallish boxes of clothes shipped from back home (it’s getting cold).

Long-time OLPC contributor Todd Kelsey recently submitted a proposal to the Knight Grant Challenge and has made it through to the second round! This is great news for Todd and for OLPC, because Todd’s project is about expanding journalism, writing and community around OLPC deployments.

About Me

I am Seth Woodworth.
This blog mostly covers the time I was working at the One Laptop per Child project working on/with Community, Communication and Media, and doing research at the Berkman Center, where I was working to create a descriptive taxonomy of collaboration online.
Updates that are applicable to the Berkman Center, Education Policy and OLPC will still land here. Otherwise, check out my sethish blog.